Shoe lasting machines



July 1, 1969 M CDONALD 3,452,377

SHOE LASTING MACHINES Filed Feb. 9, 1968 Sheet of 2 [nvenzor Theodore McDanalcZ By his Azzorney was July 1, MacDoNALD SHOE LAST ING MACHINES Filed Feb. 9, 1968 United States Patent US. Cl. 1212.4 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A shoe lasting machine having a gauge locating the toe end of a last and a support movable toward the gauge for urging an insole toewardly along the bottom of the last.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to improvements in machines for lasting the toe ends of shoes to take particular advantage of certain modern shoemaking procedures whereby an upper and an insole are loosely assembled on a last before the lasting operation. The upper and insole usually are first secured together at the heel end. Thereafter, the toe end of the shoe is shaped about the last and secured to the bottom of the insole without the usual preliminary step of pulling over and temporarily attaching the insole to the last and the upper to the insole.

Description of the prior art Optimum shoemaking conditions require that the insole, which conforms closely to the shape of the last, be properly registered on the last bottom.'In the past this was accomplished by an operator in a separate step, carefully orienting the insole and temporarily securing it to the last bottom such as by tacks. Such tacks had to be removed by hand after the upper was lasted and secured to the insole. Modern shoemaking techniques using machines of the type shown in US. Patent No. 3,164,852 have eliminated such manual insole placement and attachment with resultant saving in labor. However, such saving in labor is partially frustrated due to the fact that the lasting machine operator must take greater care when placing the shoe in a toe lasting machine to ensure proper registration of the insole. Even then, under the best of conditions, the toe end of the insole often is spaced heelwardly of the end of the last with a resultant poorly made shoe when the lasting operation is completed.

Summary of the invention Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to properly register the toe end of the insole with the toe end of the last without careful attention by an operator. To this end a machine of the type disclosed in said patent is provided with gauges againast which the toe end of a last is positioned with the upper and the insole at least temporarily secured together at the heel end of the last. The machine is provided with a member on which the toe end of the insole, which is on the bottom of a last, is supported and located heightwise while the lasting means, comprising wipers and/ or grippers, shape the upper heightwise about the toe end and inwardly over the bottom of the insole. The support member is mounted for movement lengthwise of the shoe relative to the toe gauges. Before the lasting means operate to shape the upper, the support member is moved toewardly to urge the insole lengthwise along the bottom of the last and into positioning relationship to the gauges. Thereafter, the lasting means operate and the upper is shaped over the last and attached to the bottom of the insole. This action of the support member ensures that the insole is properly registered by the gauges with the toe end of the last.

The above and other objects and features together with novel details of construction will now be described with particular reference to the embodiment shown in the drawings and thereafter pointed out in the claims.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of an illustrative shoe lasting machine embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a shoe support shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with certain parts in different positions;

FIG. 4 is a section on line IVIV of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 with certain parts in more advanced position.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring to the drawings and to said US. Patent No. 3,164,852, the machine having the embodiment of the present invention includes a support 2 on which a shoe comprising an upper U and an insole I loosely assembled on a last L is located in a proper plane for operation thereon by lasting means including grippers 4 and wipers 14. The last is positioned lengthwise of the support 2 by a gauge 10 so that the lasting means may properly engage the upper during the last operation.

The shoe support 2 is initially located in the heightwise position shown in FIG. 1 to position the shoe in the proper plane for the lasting operation. The wipers 14 are moved downwardly to the position shown in FIG. 3 to last the upper heightwise over the last and thereafter inwardly over the insole, as seen in FIG. 5. At this point in the machine operation the shoe support 2 is retracted from the shoe bottom out of the path of movement of the wipers 14. To this end, the support is mounted on the upper end of a post 52 which is movable heightwise in a portion of the machine frame 58. Since heightwise movement of the shoe support does not form any part of the present invention, no further description of this operation will be provided herein and reference may be had to said patent for fuller understanding, if desired.

Prior to the downward and inward movements of the wipers a heel rest 30 is moved against the heel end of the shoe as seen in FIG. 3 and a toe pad 40 engages the shoe at the forepart to support the shoe against heelward and heightwise movements during the lasting operation. Up to this point, the machine parts described are generally similar to those shown in said patent and the reference characters applied are the same in the present drawings as in the patent for convenience of identification. For a complete description of the foregoing machine operation, reference may be had to said patent.

As described above, the toe end of the last is located lengthwise on the support by engagement with a toe gauge 10. Even with the best of care taken by an operator it frequently happens that the insole on the bottom of the last is spaced heelwardly from the toe end of the last as seen in FIG. 1. To insure that the insole is properly registered with the last for optimum shoe-making co11- ditions, as seen in FIG. 3, the shoe support is adapted to be moved toewardly to urge the insole toward the gauge 10 into proper registration with the last. To this end the shoe support includes a member 20 having teeth adjacent its heel end for driving engagement with an insole. The member is provided \with slots 22 which receive pins 24 and 25 for sliding movement thereon. The pin 24 is carried by a lug 26 extending upwardly from a bracket 28 fixed on the upper end of the post 52. The pin 25 is carried in the upper end of an adjusting screw 27 which is mounted for heightwise movement in a bore 31 in bracket 28. The bracket is provided with a slot 32 which receives an adjusting nut 34 threaded on the screw 31. By rotation of the nut 34 the screw may be moved heightwise and the member 20 pivoted about the pin 24 to vary the generally horizontal plane of the support. In this manner the support may be adjusted to conform generally with the plane of operation of the wipers 14.

For moving the member 20 lengthwise of the shoe toward the toe gauge, a bell crank lever 36 is pivoted on the bracket at 37. One arm of the lever is connected at 38 to a depending lug of the member 20 and the other arm of the lever is connected to a piston rod 39 extending upwardly from a cylinder 41. The lower end oat the cylinder is pivoted on a portion of the machine frame and by admission of a fluid such as air to a pipe 42 at the lower end of the cylinder the bell crank 36 is caused to swing clockwise as seen in FIG. 1 and impart a toeward motion to the member 20. The member is moved from the position shown in FIG. 1 to that shown in FIG. 3 to urge the insole toewardly to the position of registration as seen in FIG. 3.

The shoe support movement takes place prior to the lasting operation of the wipers and at such time as a minimum of forces have been applied to the shoe so that the insole may be moved relatively to the last without undue stress on the insole or the member 20. The forward movement of the member 20 is limited by engagement of the upper arm of the bell crank with a portion 44 of the bracket 28. At a subsequent time, and preferably when the shoe support is being moved away from the bottom of the insole, fluid pressure is exhausted from the pipe 42 while being admitted through the pipe 46 in the upper end of the cylinder 41 to return the bell crank and the member 20 to their initial positions. The rearward position of the member 20 and the extent of its movement is determined by engagement of an adjustable stop screw 48 on the lever 36 with a lug 50 extending from the bracket 28.

For securing the upper to the bottom of the insole, adhesive may be applied to the insole and/or upper before the shoe is placed in the machine, or adhesive may be applied by an adhesive applying member 51 prior to the inward movements of the wipers 14. It is not essential to an understanding of the present invention to utilize the adhesive applying mechanism shown in the drawings and such mechanism will not be further described herein except to note that a complete understanding of its operation may be obtained by reference .4 to an application for Letters Patent Ser. No. 460,095 filed June 1, 1965, in the name of Karl V. Becker. It should be understood that a \wide variety of lasting means, as well as upper securing mechanisms, may be used in the machine in conjunction with the novel shoe support mechanism without departing from the scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine for lasting the forepart of a shoe comprising an upper and an insole loosely assembled on a last, means for lasting the upper heightwise over the forepart of the last and inwardly over the insole, means for supporting the forepart of the shoe against the action of said lasting means including a member on which the forepart of the insole rests, a gauge for locating the toe end of the last lengthwise of the support means, means mounting said member for movement relative to the gauge lengthwise Olf the last, and means operative before operation of the lasting means for moving said member to urge the insole along the bottom of the last toward the gauge.

2. A machine according to claim 1 in which the supporting means includes a post movable heightwise of a shoe to be operated upon, a bracket secured to the upper end of the post, means mounting the said member on the bracket for movement lengthwise of the shoe including pins carried by the bracket and received in slots in the member.

3. A machine according to claim 2 in which the bracket also has pivoted thereon a lever having one arm connected to the said member and another arm connected to power means actuated before operation of the lasting means to swing the lever for moving the said member toward the gauge.

4. A machine according to claim 3 in which the bracket and lever are provided with stop means to determine the extent of movement of the said member relative to the gauge.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,351,709 6/1944 Ray 12-126 2,665,436 1/1954 Jorgensen 1 1210.1 2,980,931 4/ 196-1 Gilbride 1214.2

PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

